Fishers re-ups $240,000 contract for Jennifer Messer

Fishers has renewed a $240,000-per-year legal services contract with Jennifer Messer, who will again work from Washington, D.C.

Messer serves as the city’s general legal counsel with a focus on development. It is the eighth year she has been hired by Fishers.

Her hiring caused controversy last year when it was revealed she no longer lived in Indiana and was performing her job from the D.C. area, where she resides with her husband, U.S. Rep. Luke Messer, R-Shelbyville, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.

Mayor Scott Fadness and Messer defended the hiring, asserting last year she charges less for legal services than comparable lawyers in Indianapolis and working remotely poses no obstacles.

This year’s contract highlights the cost savings that Fadness claimed.

“For each of the last three (3) years, Messer Law has delivered legal services well below the Indianapolis metro market rate,“ the contract reads. “That rate is more than One Hundred and no/100 Dollars ($100.00) less than the average hourly rate for economic development legal services in central Indiana and represents a Forty and no/100 Dollars ($40.00) discount from Messer Law’s rates charged to private developers.”

Messer has provided legal counsel for Fishers since 2010 but moved to the Washington area when Luke Messer entered Congress in 2013. She has continued representing Fishers in major economic deals.

The Board of Public Works and Safety also renewed the contracts of the law firms of Barnes & Thornburg to handle bonding and finance matters and Krieg DeVault for planning and zoning.